A Replacement
by helloelizabeth
Summary: CP Coulter's Daltonverse. Logan Wright meets his stepbrother Austin for the first time during Freshmen Orientation, and it doesn't go well. Julian and Derek try to talk some sense into Logan, and prove that he's worth their friendship.


Not So Wanted Anymore

"And it's official! We're fucked, Julian, we're officially screwed." Another crash was heard from above them. "There goes my dresser! Does Logan not understand that it's an antique?"

Julian looked up from his laptop and flipped his dark hair out of his eyes. "Shut up! Just give him some time to calm down and then we can go explain to him that once you're past the age of six, it's not ok to throw things anymore." Glancing down at his computer, he said quietly, "Though to

be honest, it's not every day that you meet your ex-mom's stepkid."

Derek stopped hitting his head against the wall and glared at his best friend. "Well you know what Julian, it's not every day that the new freshmen students find their house _prefect_ throwing a temper tantrum. I feel bad for the kid, he has no clue that he basically condemned himself to a life of misery."

He stood up straight and started imitating a freshman, jumping excitedly and putting on a high pitched falsetto. "Hi, this is Stuart house right? I'm Austin Harrisford!" He fished out a tennis ball from Julian's sports bag and tossed it upwards aimlessly. "It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so bad. Jules, the kid literally _handed_ his application sheet to Logan, and as much as I know you'd argue with me, Logan's no idiot. Took about a second for him to put it all together."

Julian glanced over at Derek again, and said, "Der, come here. You've gotta see this."

Dropping the tennis ball, he stepped over the various junk on the floor to reach the bed Julian was sprawled across. Derek jumped over a duffel bag from Julian's last trip and landed hard beside him, realizing his mistake when the laptop almost fell off the bed.

Swearing loudly, Julian grabbed his computer just before it tumbled off, knocking a calculus textbook to the floor in the process. "You're an idiot Derek. Break my laptop and I'll break you."

Derek rolled onto his back, ignoring Julian. "Larson just show me what ever the hell it is. I'm going upstairs now, it's too quiet in Logan's room, I don't trust it."

Julian slid the computer until it was in front of Derek, Austin Harrisford's Facebook page in full view. Julian clicked on the profile picture and frowned as the freshman's face filled the screen. "Damn Derek, you could've mentioned that the kid looks _exactly _like Logan!"

"Well, I didn't think it really mattered. Lo's gonna hate him no matter what he looks like." Derek smirked, not one unlike what Julian wore so often. "Besides, I never though _you_ of all people would be complaining about having a Logan look-alike around."

Ignoring that last jab, Julian turned back to the computer, hoping Derek wouldn't notice his flushed cheeks. He took the next few minutes to go though most of Austin's photo albums. The two boys took note of every Logan-related picture they saw. Piano recitals, singing competitions, tennis... "And goddam it Derek, the kid even fences!"

Julian let out a groan of frustration as he turned to face Derek again. "You know this is going to kill him right? Logan's never told me this, but I don't think Cordelia's contacted him in two years, since we were fifteen." Julian didn't even bother hiding his look of disgust when talking about his best friend's mother. "And don't even try telling me that Austin being so similar to Logan is going to help this at all, because it won't."

Nodding in agreement, Derek said, "Because all Logan's gonna see is his mom completely replacing him for another version of himself."

The actor bit his lip and frowned, thinking to himself. Jaw set, he glanced back at Derek. "Yeah, exactly alike minus the temper." He pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and shrugged a bit, adding, "And I'm willing to bet Austin's not gay either."

Derek let out a snort, ignoring the tense atmosphere. "It's Logan, version 2.0, all major bugs and glitches fixed." Julian just rolled his eyes and reached to the floor for his sunglasses.

The two boys gave a start when they heard a sudden pounding on the door. The actor looked up and called out, "Come in, it's open!"

Bailey Tipton came stumbling through the doorway, his ever-present headphones swinging from his pocket. He stopped awkwardly a few steps into the dorm room, as though he had suddenly remembered exactly who he was in front of. "Uh, hey Julian, um, sorry to bother you guys, but I was just talking to Austin downstairs-" Derek winced as he heard those words. "-and I thought that I should let you two know..." Bailey shoved his hands in his pockets, looking as though he'd rather be doing anything than being the bearer of bad news.

He shifted uncomfortably, stalling, then said, "I talked to Austin, I asked if he knew whether or not Cordelia had any other kids, and he said that she didn't."

Julian's jaw dropped completely. He quickly covered up his shock by putting on the sunglasses he was still holding. "Whatever, so Logan's mom's an ass. Now we know where Logan gets it from."

He slammed the laptop shut and leapt off the bed. Stalking past Bailey, he called lazily over his shoulder to Derek. "I'm going to go check that Logan hasn't killed anything in the past hour."

Derek thought to himself, _translation: I need to find Logan because I'm worried about him. _He understood Julian's harsh reaction to Bailey's news. Cordelia Harrisford had never even bothered to tell her stepchildren that she had another son. To them, Logan didn't even exist. That kind of rejection from your own parents wasn't easily fixed.

Bailey's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Well that went well... Um, Derek, I'm going to go back downstairs."

Derek smirked as he watched Tipton flee the dorm room, likely hoping to escape before Julian returned.

Grabbing his jacket, he made his way slowly over the mess that was Julian's room. Derek took his time, knowing that it was better to let the actor talk to Logan during times like these. His parents had gone through a rough divorce. It seemed like they had only wanted custody of Julian for his potential as an actor. Julian understood what it felt like to be unwanted, and not by only his parents.

Julian stopped just outside Logan's closed door, looking the way that a spoilt private school boy should. His shirt was unbuttoned part way, and his tie was stuffed unceremoniously into the pocket of his uniform pants. The actor hadn't even bothered with the shoes, opting instead for a pair of limited edition Nike Kicks. It wasn't as though the administration would ask him to change, especially on a Saturday.

Julian swallowed as he wondered what to say to Logan, what could be done to make this better. Leaning against the wall opposite the dorm room door, he slid out his phone to check his messages. He was alone, no one was looking at him, and he could admit that he was nervous and killing time. Julian scrolled through his texts without really reading them. Taking a deep breath, he decided to man the hell up and help his best friend, because it didn't look as though anyone else was very keen on supporting him right now. Then again, maybe Logan didn't give anyone the chance to.

Logan's eyes flickered upwards to his door as it flew open with such a force that could only mean that Julian was behind it. The singer made no move to hide what he was doing as Julian strode towards him in those horrible orange Nike sneakers he insisted on wearing in place of the uniform shoes. He sat beside Logan on the floor up against his bed. Julian took in the scene before him: Logan sitting with an old photo album on his lap. Across the room was an old dresser on it's side. The actor was almost mildly impressed that Logan could even lift something that heavy.

"Go ahead, say it." Logan shut the photo album as he shifted his body to face his friend. Julian's heart sank as he noted that there was a picture of a much younger Logan with his two parents on the cover, indicating that it was a family album.

"Say what?"

"Say that I screwed up! Tell me that my parents don't love me because I don't _deserve_ to be loved. I probably scared the shit out of the new freshmen too!" Logan paused to catch his breath, then began unpinning a badge from his uniform. Once it was undone, he tossed the crest in Julian's direction, then crossed his arms and put his head down.

The brunet picked up the badge up off the hardwood floor. Julian noticed the large "P" for prefect on one side.

Logan spoke again, voice muffled because of his position. "Keep it, or give it to Der. God knows Murdoch's gonna take it away anyway after what I did today."

Julian reached over and began pinning it back on Logan's jacket, struggling against the singer's arm that pushed him away. "Lo, I'm not keeping it, and neither will Der. Everyone chose _you_, and there's a reason for it."

Logan glared angrily through red eyes at Julian, and said, "Yeah, because they're all too busy to take it on, and because you're never even here!"

"Not to mention that I couldn't care less about taking care of this dump, or anyone in it."

The blond boy snorted, but still wouldn't look at his friend. "I guess that's a good reason too."

Julian smirked, finally getting somewhere with this. "But I don't think that this is really about your prefect role, Lo, I think it's more about Austin."

Logan lifted his head and contemplated this for a second. He faced Julian fully, and his green eyes met sepia. "What will happen on Parents Night, what if she comes to see Austin?"

"Well, whatever happens, Der and I will be there for you." Julian smirked, aware of how cheesy his words sounded. "And if that isn't enough, we can also have a little _chat_ with Cordelia about her parenting, or lack of." When Julian saw Logan grimace, he snaked his arm around the prefect and pulled him in for a quick hug.

Julian pulled away after a moment, not wanting to let himself go too far. He stretched his body out, and lay back with his legs in front of him and his head leaning against Logan's soft bed. The actor blew a stubborn piece of brunet hair out of his eyes as he stared at the ceiling. Julian took a breath, and said quickly, as though he himself didn't really want to admit it, "I need you, Lo." With a bit of desperation in his voice, he continued. "You've got to know that you're important. Without you, and Dalton, I'd just be another ex-child actor turned drug addict. You guys kind of keep me grounded. It's nice."

Logan frowned a little, surprised that Julian was talking about this. Though Logan knew that Julian felt this way, it wasn't often that his friend voiced his feelings. "And I'd just be even more of an angry, uncontrollable psychopath." He added as an afterthought, "Whose own parents can't even stand him."

Julian immediately tensed. "Don't call yourself that!"

Logan asked bitterly, "What, a psychopath? I hear what people say about me Jules."

The actor snapped, "Well it's not true! All you need is someone who understands you!"

"Who, like my parents who never call?"

Just then, Derek strolled in through the already open door, "No, like me and Jules. We don't care how many freshmen you drive out of school-"

Julian cut in, "-They need to have a bit of fear installed in them, put those sassy bastards in their place!"

Derek plopped himself in the swivel chair at his desk, spinning himself around as he continued "-We don't care how many pianos you break, or tennis rackets you smash-"

"-Though you still owe me for last summer, Roger Federer signed that one!"

Derek's steely stare made Julian stop interrupting. "As I was saying, it doesn't matter how much of an asshole you are, you're not unloveable, and we're your best friends because we _like_ you." Derek barked a quick laugh. "But don't think you're getting out of buying me a new dresser for the one you _destroyed_ half an hour ago."

Logan flushed at the memories of losing control around his friends. He noticed a childish grin growing on Derek's face, and tried to get away from the inevitable group hug that was sure to follow. Sure enough, he found himself getting tackled by the two brunets, the three of them sprawled on the floor beside Logan's bed.

Having been pushed under the bed by Julian's foot, Logan's old family photo album lay forgotten, and it didn't matter, because his real family was with him now.


End file.
